A Call to National Service

An article in the February edition of The American Interest (AI) journal proposes the creation of a National Service American Dream Account (NSADA). NSADA would use "the power of the market to leverage a $5,000 federal investment into an $18,000 award for all young Americans who successfully complete a year of national service." AI hope NSADA would address enduring social problems by mobilizing the time and talents of Americans through national service, and suggest that current work by volunteers does not begin to tap the potential of the national service to transform our society.

In the same issue, The American Interest journal interviews Robert Putnam on social capital, or social trust. They talk of the difference between bonding and bridging social capital, the shortterm impact of diversity on social capital. He remarks,

"...We used to manage our problems through the context of social capital, which is just my jargon for saying that we would have discussions about them at church picnics, or on the bench at the bowling alley while waiting for our turn, or around the table over lunch at the Rotary Club, or at union halls and so forth. We were engaged in civic discourse, exchanging views on integrating the schools or constructing a highway system or the Russians or whatever the problem was. And now we don’t, because hardly anyone goes to those places anymore. We’re not at the church picnic or the bowling alley; we’re sitting at home watching TV."

Click here to read more about the NSADA proposal.
Click here to read The American Interest journal interview with Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone.